Bumper harvest causes fall in Nashik vegetable prices

Nashik: An excellent monsoon last year and an ensuing bumper harvest has caused a glut in vegetable production as prices fell rapidly in Nashik affecting farmers. Methi (fenugreek) at Rs 1.82 to Rs  3.00 per bunch is the cheapest followed by spinach, tomato, coriander, cauliflower, cabbage and green peas.

Methi (fenugreek) at Rs 1.82 to Rs  3.00 per bunch is the cheapest followed by spinach, tomato, corriander, cauliflower, cabbage and green peas. Nashik Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) general secretary

Arun Kale said that, there was good harvest everywhere including villages nearer to Mumbai. “Vegetables from these areas is reaching Mumbai and it becomes unviable for Nashik traders to transport vegetables to Mumbai and prices are down,” Mr Kale said.

Agriculture expert and farmer Ravindra K Jadhav of Chehadi said thatthere was excess methi production because many farmers planted methias an intercrop. Sugarcane farmers plant methi and corriander along the farrows of young sugarcane crop. The crop can be harvested within one and half month. Once the sugarcane grows above the waist, then no crop can be grown in between,” he said. Meanwhile, methi, corriander and spinach were being sold at Rs 5 perbunch by a swelling number of handcart vegetable sellers in